Russia accuses EU missions of seeking to back 'non-systemic opposition'

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed Monday that EU members' diplomatic missions in the country are setting up mechanisms to support "non-systemic opposition" to Moscow.

"We have accumulated a lot of materials about how EU embassies in Moscow are preparing for our presidential elections, what intervention mechanisms they use, the creation of some kind of supporting projects for our non-systemic oppositionists," Lavrov said in a session of the World Youth Festival in the settlement of Sirius.

Embassies "do not have the right to deal with" such affairs, said Lavrov, adding that the Russian Foreign Ministry had summoned the ambassadors of the countries involved for a meeting, but that they had refused to attend.

"Can you imagine relations with states at the diplomatic level whose ambassadors are afraid to come to a meeting with the minister of the country in which they are accredited? Where has this been seen? This is how the manners of these sworn partners go," Lavrov said.

He also called the reduction of contacts between these countries and their expulsion of Russian diplomats a "manifestation of cowardice."

Relations between Moscow and Washington after US elections in November will depend on the "set of ideas" of the new US leadership in relation to Russia, he added.

- Leaked comments by German military officers

Lavrov also touched on the issue of the leaked military discussions between senior German military officers last week, saying that the lack of concern among German politicians on the issue "says a lot."

"The reaction of German politicians is interesting, some of whom are concerned that there has been a leak in the networks that ensure the security of negotiations.

"That is, the very fact of the preparation of German weapons, the German specialists who service these weapons, the attack on the Russian Federation, including the Crimean Bridge, ammunition depots, as they discuss among themselves, is not surprising," Lavrov further said.

The foreign minister's comments came as Russian media outlets last week shared a 38-minute recording of a conversation between German officers in which they discussed the possible delivery of German Taurus missiles to Ukraine​​​​​​​.

The audio clip also includes discussions about the potential use of these missiles to destroy the Kerch Bridge connecting mainland Russia to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.

A day later, Scholz pledged a swift clarification of the issue, calling it a "very serious matter," as he spoke to German reporters during a visit to Italy's capital Rome.

In response to the leaks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they suggest plans by Berlin to attack Russia are being "substantively and specifically" discussed.